Omaha start-up created the system and installed it at a local HyVee store

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 10:51 PM CST Nov 22, 2016

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT
AVE YOU
PRECIOUS TIME.
>> IT'S NOT THEIR TYPICAL
HOLIDAY LIGHT SHOW.
BUT THESE COLORFUL TOWERS
SIGNING GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE,
ARE SURE TO GET YOU IN THE
SPIRIT OF THE SEASON.
>> I THINK IT'S FANTASTIC FOR
ANYBODY WHO IS IN A HURRY AND
DURING THIS SEASON, EVERYBODY
IS IN A HURRY.
>> THESE SMART INDICATORS
INSTALLED LET CUSTOMERS KNOW
WHICH CHECKOUT LINE IS MOVING
FASTEST.
>> WE HAVE CENSORS THAT ARE
CONNECTING HOW MUCH PEOPLE, HOW
MANY CARTS, HOW MANY ITEMS.
>> JACOB RICHARDS SAYS THE IDEA
CAME TO HIM AT, WHERE ELSE, A
GROCERY STORE.
>> I WAS IN A SUPER MRKT AND WE
ARE ABOUT TO CHECK OUT.
SHE SAYS TO ME, I WISH I KNEW
WHICH LINE WAS SHORTEST.
>> STORE DIRECTOR DAN FULLER
SAYS TESTING THE PRODUCT --
>> WHEN HE TOLD ME IT WOULD
MAKE THE FRONT END FASTER AND
THAT IT WOULD RUN MORE
SMOOTHLY, I SAID "SIGN ME UP."
>> MANAGERS ASKED FOR HELP WITH
ANOTHER PROBLEM.
ITEMS LEFT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE
CART.
>> FULLER SAYS IT WILL SAVE
THOUSANDS IN LOST INVENTORY.
IT WILL PROVIDE WEEKLY DATA FOR
STORE DIRECTORS.
>> WE CAN SHOW MANAGERS A
30-MINUTE WINDOW OF HOW MANY
CARTS AND HOW MANY CUSTOMERS
ARE COMING IN.
>> AS CASHIERS WORK ALONGSIDE
THESE LIGHTS, IT'S THE STUFF OF
HOLIDAY CHEER FOR ALL.
>> IT JUST CREATES A SENSE OF

It's not a holiday lights show, but these shining bulbs are likely to get you in the spirit of the season.

The Hy-Vee store at Shadow Lake is the first in the country to pilot a new system from Omaha based company IndaFlow. The technology, called Feloh, uses smart indicator lights at each check-out counter, to show shoppers which lines are moving fastest.

"We have sensors above each line that are detecting how many people, how many carts, how many items, cashier movements, and it's doing all these calculations and figuring out which line is shortest," Jacob Richards, founder of IndaFlow said.

Richards, an Omaha native, has a background in engineering. The idea for his Feloh system came to him in, where else? A grocery store.

"I was in a supermarket with my mom, and we're about to check out and she says to me, 'I wish I knew which line was shortest'," Richards said.

Dan Fuller, the store director at the Shadow Lake Hy-Vee, has been working in the grocery industry for decades.

"I used to run the front end in the 90s with Hy-Vee, and back then life wasn't like it is now," Fuller said, "Now people are way more, they have hectic lives, they have way more going on and they're less patient."

When Richards pitched the idea of piloting the Feloh technology in the Papillion store, Fuller said it was a no-brainer.

"When he told me it would make our front end faster and that it would run more smoothly, I was like, 'sign me up'," Fuller said.

After the initial success of the smart indicator lights, managers asked for help with another problem - items left at the bottom of the cart.

The latest addition to Richards' product includes a light alerting cashiers when the system senses something underneath the basket. Fuller said it will save his store thousands of dollars in lost inventory each year.

The final piece of the grocery store pie comes in the form of data. Richards' system provides daily and weekly reports for store directors, and it offers real time information in the form of an app.

"We can show managers, kind of a 30-minute window of how many carts and how many customers are coming in." Richards said, describing sensors on the front doors, which send information to the app.

Right now, the Feloh technology is only installed at the Shadow Lake Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee's corporate team said the system will be tested in several other metro area stores in the coming months.

For customers, like Sharon O'Quinn, who was picking up pie and side dishes for her Thanksgiving meal, the new system is the stuff of holiday cheer.

"I think it's fantastic," O'Quinn said, "For anybody that's in a hurry, and during this season, everybody's in a hurry."